DEPUTY Speaker Eddie Villanueva (PL, Cibac) yesterday filed a measure seeking to exempt public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers from paying application and renewal fees in securing professional driver’s licenses.
Villanueva, in filing House Bill No. 7796, said PUV drivers who are key players of the public transport sector, are mostly minimum-wage earners and “exempting them from paying application or renewal fees in securing professional driver’s license will greatly help in cushioning their meager income from the unabated price surge of fuel and from the adverse effects of the pandemic so that they will take home a larger disposable profit.”
The CIBAC solon added that in some rural areas, tricycle drivers are even driving without professional driver’s license or driving with an expired one, which can be attributable to the high cost of fees in applying and renewing driver’s licenses.
HB 7796 defines PUVs as road-based motor vehicles that provide conveyance to the general public passenger and/or domestic cargo for a fee, offering services to the public, “such as trucks-for-hire, UV express service, public utility buses (PUBS), public utility jeepneys (PUJs), tricycles, filcabs, and taxis.”
However, the proposed measure states that “transport vehicles accredited with or operating through transport networks corporations and individual are not covered.”
Under the bill, “no fee shall be imposed as charge in the license application or renewal of PUV drivers except for fees required to be paid to government or institutions providing services and documents necessary in the application or renewal of driver’s license, such as but not limited to medical or eye examinations from Land Transportation Office (LTO) accredited clinics, ID pictures, birth certificates and the likes.”
Currently, a driver’s license application or renewal fee is estimated to cost around P600 to P700, including computer or processing charge.
The bill said the exemption can be availed upon presentation of a certification from the local government unit that the applicant is a validated PUV driver, and a membership identification card issued by a recognized transport organization or a tricycle operators and drivers association (TODA).
The bill penalizes PUV drivers who will submit falsified documents to avail of the exemption with fine ranging P50,000 to P100,000 and/or imprisonment of one month to six months upon discretion of the court.
